The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-03-05
Special Contributors.
CONTRADICTIONS in THE BIBLE
BY REV. ]. B. SAKE.
tFt. Scott, Kan.)


To allege contradictions is one meth
cd skeptics use in attacking the Script
ures. There might be contradictions
of historic facts, of scientific truths, of
moral truths, or of other Bible state
ments. That there are alleged contra
dictions, we all know, and many may
think they are real, and this may be one
reason why many young men, or old
men, do not have more interest in the
study of the Scriptures, and hence in
churches and Sunday-schoOls. tits i'm
portant to show that this is false as
sumption. In fact, considering when
and how the Bible was written, and all
the circumstances concerning it, the
wonderful harmony and consistency in
all its parts, and the absence of contra
dictions, either of known facts or truths,
or of itself, is one of the marvels of the
world, and the strongest proof that it
was inspired.
The Koran was written by one man,
after he came to years of maturity; and
yet so contradictory was it with itself,
Ito say nothing of its inconsistency with
truth), that its author had repeatedly
to expurgate it, or expressly annul what
he had previously written, in subse-
quent alleged revelation. But the
sIssB1Ba Ian by many hands, in
various parts of the world, and during
long succession of ages, under great
and extreme variety of circumstances,
different modes of civilization, and sur
rounded by all manner of adverse influ-
ences. If anything could have made it
contradictory, surely this would. And
yet from its beginning, in the earliest
ages of human history, to its close, only
eighteen hundred years ago, no real
contradiction can be pointed out. Sur
rounded by world of idolators and
polytheists, its very first sentence con-
tains the strongest affirmation of The
ism-the doctrine of one God who is a
spirit. And from this statement it
never swerves by so much as hairs
breadth, to its close.
AS 1 said, there are some alleged
contradictions, but they all vanish when
intelligently considered. 1t is said that
a neighbor of DR.. Lyman Beecher, a
skeptic, used to discuss with him the
credibility Of the Scriptures. One day
he came into his study-he had found
plain contradiction doctor, one of
the evangelists says that Judas hanged
himself /; and another says he fell down,
burst asunder, and his bowels gushed
out, and he died that way. Now how
do you reconcile it P" "Oh," says the
Doctor, 81 suppose the rope broke"
stBut, Doctor, how do you prove that it
did ?" "How do you prove it didn't ?''
was the answer and of course it was
the end of that contradiction"
No part of the Bible has been oftener
alleged to contradict facts than its first
chapter; but properly interpreted its
wonderful agreement with the facts of
science furnish the strongest proof that
it was inspired. Recently Mr.. Glad
stone, 'the grand old man." and Pro-
fessor Huxley, the great scientist, had
a controversy in the English magazines
on this old, old subject, the meaning
and credibility of the account. Neither
of them, perhaps, considering the emil
nence of the men, threw any great light
upon the question. Mr.. Gladstone's
views were rather crude, though in the
main correct in their outline; but Mr..
Huxley's articles seemed like quibbling,
the result either of ignorance of the
true Interpretation, or of unfairness.
The account is the record of vision,
like so many prophetic passages in both
the Old Testament and the New; only
in this case the prophetic spirit looked
backward instead of forward-revealed
what had been in the past, instead of
what was to be in the future. The
prophet described what he saw in Wis
ion, and just as an ordinary observer
would have described the events at the
time of their occurrence, could there
have been one then present; and the
account embraces the principal phe-
nomena, or visible appearances, in the
order in which they occurred, during
the creation or development of the
earth; and the account is found to be